Almaden Valley (often just called Almaden) is an affluent upper-middle-class
neighborhood of about 37,000 in the southeastern portion of
San Jose, California,
USA, roughly equivalent to the 95120
ZIP Code. The neighborhood is south east of the town of
Los Gatos, west of the Santa Teresa neighborhood of San Jose and south of Coleman Rd. at the southern end of the Blossom Hill neighborhood of San Jose. It is named after the
New Almaden Quicksilver Mines, which were named after the
mercury mine in (old)
Almadén,
Spain, and produced mercury that was used to process ore during the
Gold Rush. The informal borders are generally Coleman Rd. at the northern end, McKean Rd. at the southern end, where the valley becomes mostly rural, and the town of Los Gatos to the west. The valley is located between the
Santa Teresa Hills and the
Santa Cruz Mountains, with
Mount Umunhum to the west dominating the local geography.